Quote:
Originally Posted by haertig
Digital media is different than physical items (how would someone return a stolen eBook?), but I doubt the law would treat a stolen eBook any differently than a stolen bicycle, except for the monetary value involved.
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My non-lawyer understanding:
This is another place where the terrible intellectual "property" metaphor that's become so common is misleading.
An ebook that was actually stolen (say, on a thumb drive, thereby removing it from the original owner's possession entirely) would be treated similarly.
But an illegally copied one would be treated rather differently in many jurisdictions. Theft under common law (and in most parts of the US and most UK/Commonwealth nations, and many others) legally requires
intent to deprive the owner of the property stolen, and is a crime against the property owner*.
Copyright violations are typically not legally theft. They are civil and/or criminal offenses against the copyright holder (not against the ebook owner).
Webster's also
defines theft similarly. Wikipedia has
some higher-level discussion.
I could be wrong about all of this, consult a lawyer if you need legal advice.
*The UK law, for instance, reads: "A person is guilty of theft, if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and "thief" and "steal" shall be construed accordingly". In New York the law says that theft occurs when someone "wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds property from its rightful owner, with the intent to deprive the owner of such property"